Riot victims find it hard to pick up the pieces

Riot victims find it hard to pick up the pieces

JAKARTA (JP): Rikwan, 57, spends all his days at home in a
housing complex in Jelambar, West Jakarta.

He rarely plays with his seven new birds, including a bulbul
and a starling, a gift from his lovely wife, who thought the
gesture may appease the man, who was badly affected by last
month's riots.

His wife keeps him company every day, trying to keep him busy
and help him forget the recent past.

His three children, two of whom are married, can only watch
their upset father from a distance.

The riots on May 13 that tore parts of the capital apart also
destroyed the only livelihood the Chinese-Indonesian family had.

Their tiny kiosk, from which they sold cheap clocks and
wristwatches in the city-run Pasar Pagi Perniagaan market center
on Jl. Perniagaan (formerly known as Jl. Toko Tiga) in the busy
Glodok district, was set on fire by the mobs.

Not one single thing could be salvaged. The looters took every
item out of the four-meter-by-three-meter shop before they burned
it down.

"Our family is badly hurt," his son Eddy Wijaya told The
Jakarta Post yesterday in a bitter voice.

"The shop and all its contents...," he paused, then burst
into tears.

Eddy, a manager of a food company, wept a few more seconds.

He finally said: "The business was built up by my father for
over 30 years, since I was a small boy!"

According to Eddy, the loss of some Rp 100 million (US$9,000)
might be peanuts to many.

"But not for us. We're not big entrepreneurs," he said.

"It was my father's pride and joy. It was our only source of
livelihood," he explained.

His father, Rikwan, immigrated to Jakarta from the South
Kalimantan capital of Banjarmasin at the age of five. His brother
brought him here in search for a better life.

When he grew up, he started a business as a street textile
trader. After years of hard work, Rikwan bought his own shop and
was able to finance his two sons' and daughter's university
educations.

"Now, we no longer see him smile. He prefers to stay alone,"
said Eddy, who lives at home with his parents.

What made his father' blood boil was the local preman
(hoodlums) in the market area. He had often been obliged to give
them protection money and food, Eddy recalled.

"They were among the mob that broke down the shop door,
grabbed the goods and set the place on fire," he said.

Eddy's brother, Handy, who witnessed the devastation of his
family's shop, recalled that he hurriedly closed the store at
11:30 a.m. following rumors that several shops in the city had
been set on fire.

He quickly took his motorcycle and parked it down a nearby
narrow alley before returning to watch the shop.

"The mobs started to tear down the doors and windows of our
shop, along with dozens of others at about 3 p.m.," Handy said.

"We could only watch hopelessly from a distance."

When informed about the incident, Rikwan -- who was at home at
the time -- could not say a word.

In the evening, he was told by neighbors that a group of
people would attack, loot and burn their housing complex, which
is mostly occupied by Chinese-Indonesian families.

Frustrated, Rikwan got out of bed, picked a hoe as a weapon
and told his neighbors he would stand guard to face the mobs.

"I'm already old. So let me handle these people. My shop has
been damaged. I won't let them touch my house and family, they'll
have to kill me first," Rikwan told his neighbors, who were
stunned by his remarks.

That night, the residents twice became involved in heated
arguments with outsiders, but no fights occurred.

Uncertain

Now, Rikwan's wife, children and grandchildren want him to
stop dwelling on the past and start anew.

"We know it's not easy for him," Eddy said, "none of us have
any idea what to do next."

During the May 13 to May 15 riots, the city and surrounding
areas were shrouded in black smoke which had billowed from
thousands of burning buildings set on fire by mobs.

The mobs not only looted and vandalized property. They also
raped and sexually abused women and girls.

Most victims and owners of damaged property were Chinese-
Indonesians.

A businesswoman told the Post how her pregnant relative in
West Jakarta was gang raped during the unrest.

"She's still deeply stressed by it," she said.

Most victims have refused to speak to the press about their
ordeal.

Their agony has been renewed by rumors of the city being
rocked again by massive riots in the next few days.

Residents of some upmarket housing complexes in the capital
have collected money to purchase defense equipment, such as
barbed wire barricades, to protect their property.

The victims of the recent riots blame the city's security
officers of doing nothing to protect them from the violent mobs.

During last month's riots, many housing complex residents
hired uniformed security officers to stand guard at entrances to
their complexes.

Poor treatment and uncertainty of the country's political and
economic situation have forced many Chinese-Indonesian families
to leave Indonesia. (bsr)